What is the easiest way to have a default "Good" lighting setup for cycles?
I usually keep some generic lights on a hidden layer in my default .blend, so I can just enable that layer to get an instant light setup.

To do this:


Open a new file (&#9096; CtrlN)
Create your light setup:



Here are some good tips on lighting.

There are also some nice light setups in the community if you don't want to make your own.
Move the lights to another layer (M), then save the startup .blend (&#9096; CtrlU).

This will save the current file as how blender will start up by default, so make sure everything is how you want it (visible layers, selected objects, view orientation, etc.)




Another thing you can do is use HDR/environment lighting.

You could try this addon, or use HDR panoramas such as these as environment textures.

To do this, add a HDR environment texture to the world surface (1) and (2) (it doesn't matter whether you add it in the node editor or the properties editor). There are no lamps in the image below:



Also remember to enable Multiple importance sample (3) when using environment textures, otherwise you will probably get a lot of noise.